Cooking with kholrabi

I love Laura. No, this isn’t a confessional post; I’m just a big fan of Laura’s, the popular greengrocer’s in Canton. I go there every week to stock up on green goodies and the other day picked up a kohlrabi. It’s only a few months ago that I discovered this root vegetable and tonight is the first time I’ve cooked with it, although it’s actually pretty delicious eaten raw.

This is a kohlrabi

This weekend has been very hard on my liver (hen dos will do that to a girl) and tonight I fancied something wholesome. This warm winter salad is comfortingly carby but not too stodgy, and combines crunch with sharp and sweet flavours. It’s also very pretty to look at – oh hello there, Instagram…

It’s a very easy meal to make and I managed to assemble it whilst chatting on Skype to my friend Avis who lives in Norway.

No wine tonight but I reckon this would be perfect as part of a relaxed Sunday roast with friends over a bottle of red. Had I been able to get blood oranges at Laura’s today (maybe they were there and I was too hungover to notice) I would have added these as I think they’d go really well. You could also use celeriac if you can’t get your hands on kohlrabi. And you can always add quinoa or rice to bulk it up.

Serves one (or two as a side dish)

Half a kohlrabi thinly sliced

Half a fennel bulb thinly sliced

Half a head of cauliflower cut into florets

Half a head of radicchio roughly sliced

A handful of kale leaves roughly sliced

Half an apple (I used Cox but any variety will do) thinly sliced

Three dessert spoons of flaked almonds

Two dessert spoons of pomegranate seeds (optional)

Four teaspoons of coconut oil

A teaspoon of dried cinnamon

A teaspoon of cumin seeds (although you could use the powder version)

Half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 200C (I’ve got a fan oven so you might want to raise the temperature if you’re using a gas or electric one) and soften one teaspoon of coconut oil in an oven dish. Place the cauliflower and fennel in the dish and add half the spices and another teaspoon of coconut oil. After 10-15 minutes, place the kohlrabi and apple in a separate dish with the remainder of the coconut oil and spices and cook for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice and de-seed your pomegranate (or if you’re using a packet you can chill, wash up, drink wine etc.) and prepare your kale and radicchio. When the root vegetables are cooked, turn off the oven and heat two deep pans on the hob. In one, add a little bit of coconut oil and stir fry the kale and radicchio for about 3-4 minutes. In the other, toast the almonds for 2-3 minutes, being careful not to let them burn.

Place the leaves in a bowl, top with the root vegetables (which should still be warm from the oven) and finally sprinkle on the almonds and pomegranate seeds and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice. I added a pinch of pink Himalayan salt but only because I bought it today and was excited to use it.

So there you go: a suitably simple Sunday supper. I like alliteration so sue me.